


She's Her Mother's Daughter

by bothromeoandjuliet



Category: Archie Comics, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Hermione Lodge bakes, Hermione POV, Hiram's back in jail, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I fell down this rabbit hole and I'm taking you all down with me, Jughead's trying to help Archie, Veronica's struggling, but ends up helping Veronica too, parentdale style fic, thats my head canon and I'm sticking to it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 13:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothromeoandjuliet/pseuds/bothromeoandjuliet
Summary: Archie Andrews is a lovely boy, but Hermione Lodge knows her daughter.Or, Hermione knows where this path is taking Veronica, and she's not sure that she likes it.





	She's Her Mother's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> So I read a crap-ton of Parent!dale fits and so instead of writing the next chapter of BDWESTLWF I wrote this. Hope you all enjoy! <3

 

Archie Andrews is a lovely boy, but Hermione Lodge knows her daughter.

A disturbing realization; one she comes to somewhere between the seventh or eleventh glass of wine, with the flatscreen buzzing static in the background. Veronica isn’t home; gone to spend the night at Betty Cooper’s, but the spark in her eyes when she’d hugged Hermione goodbye made it clear that if a certain redhead was to make an appearance Veronica wouldn’t object.

Because Veronica says she loves him; says that if she’s certain about anything in their topsy-turvy life, it’s him. And Hermione wants to believe her, because whatever was in the water the Andrews men drank, made them some of the most kindhearted people she’d ever known, and who wouldn’t want that for their daughter?

Fred Andrews, the one who’d adored her through the entirety of high-school, the one who was the representation of every good moral thing in her soul. She knows she should regret breaking his heart, all that time ago.

But she can’t.

Archie reminds her of Fred sometimes, kind, sweet, willing to give second chances out like flyers. But other times the innocence of eighteen slips away, and Hermione watches Archie prove that his flaming hair isn’t the only thing he’d inherited from his mother. Iron-willed, with a temper that burned brighter then the flames that had engulfed F.P’s old trailer.

He tries to hide it, Hermione knows; tries to cover-up insecurities with puppy-dog eyes and hurt feelings with gushes of warmth, but it doesn’t work. He still can’t step foot inside the Pembrooke, even though Hiram had left Riverdale weeks ago, and even though Veronica hasn’t said anything, Hermione knows that he thinks she’s pushing him away.

The oven dings in the kitchen and Hermione tries to force herself to go remove her cookies before they burn, but she can’t seem to; can’t seem to do anything except sit, staring at the front door, as the events of the afternoon play out in her head; events that had resulted in Veronica’s sleepover and her alcohol free-for-all.

Hermione wasn’t sure who she’s been expecting when she’d answered the door, but Jughead Jones hadn’t been it. Because the last time she’d seen him in person was at Hiram’s final trail, with a relieved arch in his eyebrow and an old pencil stuck behind his ear, and besides, he and Veronica weren’t friends; not really.

“Jughead. Is there something I can do for you?”

He’d shaken his head, hair for once not covered by that ghastly beanie, with a hovering smirk that reminded her too much of his father.

“Not today Mrs. Lo- I mean Ms. Gomez. I’m here to talk to Veronica if she’s here.”

“She’s in her room, I’ll tell her you’re here.”

He’d followed her inside meekly enough, stare taking in the mess of boxes and papers littering the living room before dropping down onto the nearest chair.

“I’m sorry for the mess, we’ve been going through Hiram’s things, trying to see if there’s anything that could be of use to the state. Veronica! Jughead’s here to see you.”

Hermione had left the room then, attempting to give Veronica the privacy that she’d been deprived of for these past few months. But walls are thin and something, (Hermione liked to call it natural instinct,) pushed her to, if not listen, to not _not_ listen.

“What are you doing here Jughead?”

“Can’t a friend come see another friend without any reason?”

“Well, we aren’t exactly friends are we? Not close ones anyway, so give it up Tolstoy, I’m busy.”

“Archie’s worried about you. He keeps saying that you’re pushing him away and obsessing over what he did wrong.”

“He hasn’t done anything wrong, I’ve just been-“

“Busy, yeah, you said.”

There’s a pause, Hermione can practically see Veronica rolling her eyes, lashes fluttering, and wonders if Jughead is wearing his father’s smirk.

“Look Veronica, just spend some time with him. There’s no reason for you to punish him because you’re life is once again spiraling.”

“I’m not! I’ve just…I’ll see him tonight, okay?”

Another pause, longer then the first, and she wonders if Jughead’s leaving when,

“…Are you, you know, doing okay?”

Veronica lets out a sharp laugh, hurting her mother’s ears with how much it sound’s like Hiram’s.

“You’ve done your ‘best friend duty’ Jug. I don’t need you to play the concerned acquaintance too, it’s really not a good look on you.”

“I’m serious Veronica. Most kids our age haven’t had their dads incarcerated once, let alone twice. No-one would blame you if you weren’t okay.”

“Wouldn’t they? Can you really look me in the face and tell me that people aren’t glad that my dad is behind bars again?”

“Well…no. And I can’t say I’m not either, but I’ve been placed in the rather awkward position of being able to see both sides.”

“Well, how very uncomfortable for you.”

“That’s…You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I just mean that even though you know your dad deserves to be in jail, that doesn’t mean that, on some deep, messy level of your heart, you wish that things hadn’t turned out this way. But because you know he needs to pay for what he did, you’re pushing those feelings, and everyone around you away so you can pretend that everything’s fine.”

“Is that what your ‘writer senses’ are telling you?”

“No, it’s what my human senses are telling me. Remember that I’ve gone through this with my dad too, and so I’m telling you that it's okay for you to not be okay.”

“I thought you were all about tough love.”

Veronica’s voice had wavered slightly there, like tears were on the edge of being exposed and Jughead’s voice sounds more gentle then Hermione had ever heard it be before when he speaks.

“I am. But in this case I thought that some soft love would get my point across better.”

His statement had been followed by an awkward cough and Veronica had laughed, a small laugh, but it was a truer one then Hermione had heard from her daughter in weeks and she was grateful.

Jughead had left with sharp jerk of his chin in Hermione’s direction and Veronica had disappeared back into her room, phone in hand, leaving Hermione alone.

She hadn’t thought much about it in the following hours, her attention to focused on sorting through Hiram’s things and screening calls from a myriad of reporters, all squawking in her ear about getting, ‘just one quote,’ or wanting to hear about Veronica’s reaction.

Needless to say, it had been a tiring day, and it wasn’t until after Hermione had finished supper and collapsed into her couch, glass of wine in hand, that she’d had time to truly think.

_Maybe thinking wasn’t such a fantastic idea._

The significance of Jughead’s words hadn’t escaped Hermione, even if they had Veronica, or even the speaker himself. Begrudging comfort, given because the pull of similar circumstances was too strong to resist, begrudging because neither one knew why things and words felt so easy with a person who’d they always classified as being the worst kind of wrong.

The oven beeps again, dragging Hermione out of herself and to her feet, heart heavy. Silently she curses F.P. for raising a son so much better then himself and the fate that had brought them to Riverdale, throwing Jughead and Veronica together, for what Hermione privately deems, for better or worse.


End file.
